MoPho - Review

I was having a hankering for pho because it was a wee bit chilly outside.

Mopho is new, it's close to my humble abode, and it's on my way home from work.

First off, I love the name. What can I say? I'm a sucker for funny names of establishments.

The atmosphere is really nice. It's definitely not your run of the mill Vietnamese joint, and you wouldn't expect it to be with a chef that once cooked with John Besh. It's dimly lit with pretty brown and orange colors as the color palette. I really liked their use of old fashioned Edison light bulbs. It was a nice touch.

I decided to sit at the bar. A couple different people waited on me. The service was quick and attentive.

First you pick your broth (fowl, beef, pork, etc.). Then you pick 3 out of 4 proteins to add to it. I decided to go with the pork pho. For my proteins I choose duck meatballs, pork belly and pork shoulder.

As another review stated, I was disappointed in the fixins that came out. There wasn't very much of it, and the basil and cilantro were limp.

Now for the pho. I really loved the broth of this pho, but that didn't hold a candle to the meat. The meat was absolutely delicious. But I do have to say that even though I loved this, it didn't seem like pho to me. Something was missing...I'm thinking it was star anise? I would get this again because it's a great soup, but likely wouldn't get it to satisfy my pho craving.

I also thought the serving was small. It's noodles! They're cheap! Gimmie more! I was happy with the amount of meat, but really wanted more noodles and broth.

When I normally eat pho, I'm so stuffed I could barely move. This time I left feeling like I could've eaten more.

The menu was pretty adventurous, and I'm looking forward to going back and trying some of their other offerings.